>> shepard: there is breaking news now on this special edition of "the fox report." the polls have closed in three states. we can call one of those races. fox news decision team now projects newt gingrich has won his former home state of georgia. a state he said he had to win to stay alive in this race. but our decision desk tells us vermont and virginia are too close to call. and, get this, mitt romney is in a tight race with ron paul in each of those states. of course, rick santorum and newt gingrich didn't even qualify for the virginia primary so it was just romney and paul on the ballot. our exit polls show mitt romney is generally winning among voters who say their top concern is the economy but not everywhere. and rick santorum is leading among voters who say they want a candidate with a strong moral character. but that's also not across the board. much more on the exit polls in

just a moment. again, fox news now projects newt gingrich has won his former home state of georgia. 419 delegates up for grabs across 10 super tuesday states tonight. that's more than the total that need to win the nomination. less than a half hour away from the polls closing in the biggest race of the night in the state of ohio. so stay tuned. first, to campaign carl cammeron live at romney headquarters in boston. carl, what are we learning from the early returns? >> well, we see from georgia that newt gingrich has his big win in the state where he began his political career. pulling off a peach state victory and he he will certainly take the lions share of the delegates there with likely to be overwhelmingly large popular vote victory. and that was the state that gingrich said he had to win. it's probably the high point of his evening. for much of the rest of the night is he likely to watch rick santorum and romney battle it out. though he will be collecting deletes in a host of other

places. virginia you mentioned at the top. that's an example where gingrich and santorum face a bit of a problem structurally they are not on the ballot in the old dominion. as a consequence romney and ron paul is battling it out. romney is expected to win that it speaks to, on some level the structures turley and financial problems that gingrich and santorum have in a long extended race. romney is much stronger in terms of his war chest and his organization. candidates who can't get on ballots have a hard time competing for ballots. >> shepard: that does make it more difficult. that's part of santorum as well. is he on the ballot in much of the places but not everywhere. >> the buckeye state is the battle of the evening. ohio is the sort of quintessential swing state and a bellwether for american politics. and there mr. santorum is in ineligible for 18 of the state's 66 delegates that puts him at substantial disadvantage. in the last few days in ohio mitt romney appeared to have surged in the polls. he had been down by double digits but the romney campaign points out romney has now won

five states in a row and has the benefit of momentum. a victory in ohio in the popular vote and delegate count for romney would be significant. it's not his native state like it was in michigan and it is an important rust belt state adjacent to pennsylvania where rick santorum runs strong. it has a lot of meaning for both of these candidates. >> shepard: speaking of a lot of meaning the state of tennessee tonight may tell a story as well, carl. >> well, it's a southern battleground and tennessee is going to be one of the closer ones. this is another state where rick santorum has been running strong. he had a lead for quite some time. santorum is expected to do very well in oklahoma tonight. but, in tennessee over the course of the last 10 days or so, newt gingrich campaigned pretty aggressively pointing out he is he a southerner from nearby georgia and ought to be able to connect well with voters in the volunteer state. romney came in talking about the fact that he was riding a national momentum wave. the gallup tracking poll today had romney up by double digits across the country. that's the kind of thing that could matter there. there is really a battle for second in tennessee between romney and newt gingrich. they are close enough that they could give santorum a

scare. there is a very real possibility that by the end of the night though romney is expected to get most of the delegates or at least more than the other two, that the three big states, georgia, to gingrich, sohio a toss-up, tennessee a toss-up. could see three different candidates winning the three biggest delegate purses tonight. >> shepard: weirdness in virginia with everybody not on othe ballot, only two candidates on the battle there. this morning when we were starting the editorial meeting. the think something by now wield already call the state of virginia. their polls close four and a half minutes ago and that we can't says what? >> it says that ron paul is doing fairly well against mitt romney in virginia. and that speaks to the anti--romney vote. it also speaks to ron paul's ability to organize in a state in a binary sort of a situation running only against mitt romney. and you have got to remember that ultimately this is a battle for delegates. and while popular vote problems may be entertaining a little bit there is a distinct possibility by the end of the

night the delegate count will begin to be more important than who wins the most states. ron paul is going to get delegates. more than santorum and gingrich possible of getting in virginia. that matters. it keeps ron paul alive. late in the evening, shep, long after the primaries of tonight are resolved, we will still be watching the caucus states. alaska, idaho, north dakota. those are places where ron paul could pick up delegates and be a significant force. could be a pretty late night for those. all in all, the bottom line is most accounts say that romney will get most of the delegates tonight. the question is whether or not it will solidify the perception that he has got the nomination at least on track to win it. or whether there might be some increased momentum for his two challengers, the anti-romney alternatives looking for that conservative vote which is pronounced, it's out there, and hasn't been persuaded by romney's candidacy yet. >> shepard: it certainly hasn't. carl, stay with us if you would. i want to bring in chris wallace on your local fox

station. chris a couple of things, first of all the republicans, the establishment at least would very much like to have the republic candidates stop beating each other up and, to that end, they would need somebody to get out tonight with newt gingrich winning in georgia as the fox news decision desk has already called, and then the very real possibility that he could go on next week or in the weeks ahead and win mississippi and alabama, he he is around for a while, isn't he? >> well, it looks like he is. i mean, you said at the very top of the show that georgia was a state that newt gingrich had to win. that's exactly right. and, in fact, he said it. he said i'm not a credible candidate if i can't win my home state. the question is how much better does he do? how does he he do in oklahoma? how does he do? tennessee? in other words, is it more than just a home field advantage for him? but, you know, you could argue two things. first of all good news for gingrich and other is it may be good news for romney. because romney would love to see if they're not all getting out of the race he he doesn't want to see either one, gingrich or two, santorum get out of race.

he likes to have a split field in the anti-romney vote. >> shepard: biggest surprises thus far, are you surprised we haven't been able to call virginia yet? we are down to two candidates. >> i am astonished we are not able to call virginia and not able to call vermont. i think everyone assumed those would be easy victories for mitt romney. he was alone on the ballot in virginia along with ron paul and everybody thought, you know, it might be 60/40. or 65/35. everybody assumed it was going to be an easy vic trismt the question is is that an affirmative vote for paul or is it an anti-romney vote that the people who can't vote for santorum or gingrich said i will vote for paul because it's a vote against romney. in either case it shows some weakness in a very important key swing state in the general election for mitt romney. i mean, we will see how it turns out as the night goes on, early on it certainly shows some weakness. vermont, my lord, right next door to massachusetts everybody thought that was going to be a give me for mitt

romney and the fact again it's too close to call at least early in the evening shows some weakness for mitt romney. >> shepard: virginia has different groups of populations vote for different reasons. virginia is a southern state, obviously. what does this tell us about southern voters, especially evangelicals and whether or not they will be be able to come around to mitt romney? if it is so close right now between romney and ron paul in the state of virginia, so close that we can't even yet call it with just those two candidates in there, you would have to assume in the early going that a lot of that is an anti-romney. and that come later on in this process, will southerners, particularly evangelical southerners wake up on a big tuesday and go to the polls and vote for a possible nominee named romney? >> well, i mean that certainly is the question and clearly he has not made the sale yet. we can say from the exit polls that what we have seen in michigan, what we have seen in a bunch of these states continues to hold true. what we saw in florida.

what we saw in south carolina, very conservative, strong tea party supporters. people for whom religious values are very important. they are not crazy about mitt romney. he loses that vote to, in one case gingrich. another case santorum. maybe here to paul. i mean, he has not been able to make the sale. the romney people would say okay, maybe it's tough in a republic primary against people who may be more conservative than he is, but you put him in a general election campaign, if he does become the nominee against barack obama, and those folks are all going to come home and vote for the republic. we'll have to wait and see. you know, it's not just a question of would they end up voting romney over obama or vote at all there is a key issue here and that sen thiewsm. can romney and let's not get ahead of ourselves. is he a long way from the nomination. following your scenario can he get those people out to vote in november.

>> shepard: that is the question. bottom of the screen we have added the election ticker. that will be up all night into the early hours of the morning. right now mostly virginia down there because that's the only thing we have been able to call and only thing coming in quickly. again, we are waiting right this moment for a decision on the state of virginia and on montana. and we are expecting that we may be able to call those quickly. in the meantime, we can learn a lot from exit polling. we are going to keep chris -- did i say montana? i meant vermont. apologies. we are going to keep carl and keep chris wallace with us and bring in martha maccallum. she has been watching over the exit polls throughout the day and monitoring those for us. what are we learning? >> interesting tale here, shep. newt gingrich wins georgia and exit polls shows really how he did it? >> what are the underlying numbers? let's take a look at this. here are some of his strongest groups. first you have got in georgia 70% of the voters in georgia say they are tea party supporters. nearly half of them went for gingrich. same kind of picture with those who call themselves conservatives. 70 o% of the electorate in

georgia calls themselves conservative. 48% of them went for the former speaker. now, more than six in ten of georgia voters today call themselves white evangelical christians. he got half of that group. they went to newt gingrich. and for the voters that say having the right experience is the most important thing to them in terms of their top quality he got 60% of those as well. in fact, he won every single characteristic across the board except those who said that strong moral character was what guided their vote. those folks went for santorum. so, let's take a look at mitt romney's lead as you said, shep, not able to call vermont yet which is somewhat surprising at this point in the evening. vermont, of course, is next door to his home state of massachusetts. and here is what it looks like in vermont. totally different picture in terms of electorate there. voters less conservative. they are more moderate. lot more independents getting into the mix in this election as well tonight. the number of very conservative voters is less than half of what we see in other states.

numbers shape up when you look at them versus ohio, georgia, and tennessee tonight. so, very small number of that group. so those vermont voters who say that they are, indeed, very or somewhat conservative, he they were more than twice as likely to back romney. he won this group by more than 20 percentage points as we look at his lead at this point in vermont. now, in addition to the ideological leanings that everyone is very familiar with with ron paul, his strong showing in vermont tonight can be explained at least in part by looking at independents who could get into the mix tonight as i said. check this out, 41% are independents. and paul had a double digit edge over both romney and santorum with those very independent vermonters tonight, shepard. so, we have got more coming in as you're monitoring as well from vermont. ohio is going to close at 7:30 eastern time. already getting a peek at what's making up the mix there. very interesting data coming. in this thing is far from over, shep. >> shepard: far from over, martha. you are dead right on that. we will come back to you as we

get more poll numbers out o. first, we are waiting to call virginia. which is just two candidates, mitt romney and ron paul. still no decision there. the polls have been closed for 13 minutes. same thing with vermont. which is as she mentioned right next door to mitt romney's whole state. let's bring the whole gang in. chris wallace is with us from "fox news sunday." chief political correspondent carl cammeron is here as well. i believe martha is sticking around as well. chris, what else sticks out for you at this moment? >> chris: well, i mean, as i say, georgia is not a surprise. it was -- it's very important now because it will probably keep newt gingrich in this race and continue to divide the conservative, the more conservative, anybody but romney vote. but, boy, the fact and i have been looking at the exit poll numbers here. virginia may not be quite as close as we are portraying it at least as you look at the exit polls. vermont really is very close. that is a shocker. quite frankly, not only has paul done very well in

vermont, but so has rick santorum. so, i mean, again, this is a state and i think carl will agree with me that everybody figured that romney was going to take it a walk. and the fact that he he apparently isn't and that we can't call it right away as soon as the polls close is something of a surprise tonight. >> shepard: i think it's a surprise to everybody around here. carl, what about you? >> well, i mean, i agree. vermont obviously a new england state adjacent to massachusetts and all the things that romney counts on. it's a very very liberal state. and there is a few very prominent liberal arts colleges in vermont where there has got to be lots of ron paul supporters. vermont lends itself to a ron paul type of independent candidacy. it certainly would catch mitt romney off guard in a huge way to watch this not be a win with a pretty heavy margin of victory for romney. the other thing is there has been a tremendous amount of discussion about what happens because of ohio not just georgia and virginia but the totality of this evening? can mitt romney overcome the

skepticism about the reliability of his conservatism? can rick santorum overcome the skepticism about his long-term viability? and each of these races tonight will contribute a little bit to the answer, but there is one part of it that doesn't lend itself very well to television but it's very very important. that's where the delegate race goes from here on the romney's campaign's hope tonight by the end of the super tuesday states they will have about doubled their delegate count. they want to break the 400 delegate number tonight. there is a total of 400 plus delegates available tonight. he wants to add to his current existing delegate total to get over 400. that would almost double what santorum has, maybe triple or more what gingrich collects. that's very significant. romney has been winning those delegates for primary states. and after tonight, there won't be anywhere near as many primary states left for him to compete in. california and texas come very late in the process. romney will have to start

competing in caucus states where base conservative tea party and self-described very conservative voters hold sway. that's where santorum and gingrich have shown real -- romney will have to verify the of the primary vote and start wrestling with santorum and gingrich going forward. conversely, if romney does get north of 400 delegates total by the end of this evening. he will begin to have a big big margin ahead of rick santorum and newt gingrich and questions will immediately result as to whether or not they have the capacity to catch up while concentrating on caucuses and not winning the big primary states. shep? >> shepard: makes sense, carl. those two different scenarios lend two different political relates. one is the republic candidates keep fighting with each other and leave each other battered and bruised as they have been over the last few weeks. the other is mitt romney gets the 200 to 215, maybe 220

delegates he is hoping to gather tonight to get over that 400 threshold and then he starts focusing singularly on barack obama. i'm guessing the republic establishment would prefer the latter. >> chris: yeah. but he can focus on barack obama but if santorum and gingrich are still in the race and they are focusing on mitt romney and what's wrong with him, that's going to continue to drive down his negatives. it's going to continue to push romney to appeal more to conservative voters. as we have seen that's having a real negative impact on romney's support on independence. >> shepard: pardon the interruption there is breaking news now on fox news channel and now fox news projects in fact mitt romney has won the state of virginia over the only competitor in the race in virginia ron paul. throughout the afternoon we were at a about a 60/40 split it was looking like. i guess in the last few minutes it tightened up as our decision desk at 7:00 eastern time as the polls closed across the commonwealth made a decision that they could not yet call that race now at 17 minutes past the hour they

have. fox news projects mitt romney wins the state of virginia. now, pardon me, chris, again, sorry for the interruption. this isn't a big surprise. this is what we would have expected but the margin of victory is going to be telling. if it is 60/40 it's one thing. if it's closer than that, seems to me it's quite another. >> chris: yeah, one of the keys here and i think that the romney people -- there are two aspects to this one is the delegates and carl is exactly right. remember barack obama and hillary clinton in 2008 where starting in march and april she started beating obama in pennsylvania and texas, in ohio and an awful lot of key states but because he had done so well in february in the caucuses, obama continued to have that lead of about 100 delegates. in the end it really is all about delegates. even if you are getting beat up in a bunch of places if you have got the lead in delegates in the end that's what they count at the end in the convention. the other thing it seems to me romney can say is, you know, all the states aren't the same. one could make the argument that oklahoma, tennessee,

those are going to go to the republic nominee, whoever they are. observed, florida, -- on the other hand, florida, ohio, virginia, those are key states. those are states very much in play. those are all states that barack obama won in 2008 and it's going to be awfully important for a republic potential republic nominee to say i was able to win those against my fellow republicans and can i win them against barack obama. at this point, romney, of course, has already won florida, several weeks ago. we're saying now he has won virginia. we will see what happens in ohio. those would be three big key swing states. michigan another that he would be able to say, potentially, "i can deliver those states." i did it against the republicans. can i do it against obama. >> shepard: chris, thanks. stay with us if you would. want to get to shannon bream where fox news has just predicted that in fact mitt romney has won the state of virginia. closer than many had expected in what is a two man race over ron paul because gingrich and

santorum did not qualify there. they didn't get enough signatures. shannon bream live in richmond. what's happening there. >> it's interesting because you mentioned for a long time we have seen the polls be very wide. huge gap between romney and poll. either they were staying home they weren't going to vote or those who didn't have their primary pick on the ballot a santorum or gingrich, a lot of them were talking about mobilizing, trying to get out and get the vote for ron paul. they wanted to try to make sure that they could keep mitt romney from gaining any more delegates than they expected him to get here in virginia. based on congressional districts. some of them are based on the statewide vote and three super delegates as well there are things in play here. it's possible for ron paul to pick up delegates. he has always known that since he is only going head to head, only one with romney here. the fact is he may have been helped by gingrich and santorum supporters who didn't have a choice on the ballot. they don't allow for wright -- write ins here.

>> shepard: nine minutes until the polls are closing in the state of ohio. very tight race between rick santorum and mitt romney. santorum had been doing very well there lost some momentum in the last few days, maybe week or so. carl cammeron ohio is a state if you are a republic, you have got to have it. >> ha ha. i will tell you what, in all the states that we have been to this year and in years past. ohio got blitzed with more attack ads that most tv stations could air. it was wall-to-wall. rick santorum ran very hard in ohio. mitt romney ran for the whole purpose of trying to put santorum out o. whether or not that happens, we will know within -- the polls will close in a few minutes it will take a while for this to be tallied up. santorum ran very strong in the southeastern part of ohio near his home state of pennsylvania, a lot of blue collar, appalachian type voters there. also very strong in

cincinnati. the southwestern corner of the state over towards indiana and kentucky. romney looks for big big turnout out of cleveland and columbus. this is a quintessential republic establishment state. lots of blue collar voters that santorum and unionized voters that santorum can court. and a long long history of republic presidential king making. ohio the bellwether state that has been right with who it picks for the general election more than any other state in the country. it's going to go right down to the wire it could be a late night. romney was down by a dozen points in ohio just a week and a half ago. but the strength of his win in washington state, he has actually won five consecutive contests in the last two or three weeks. has helped him come back significantly. and the victory in nearby michigan in the state that he was born certainly doesn't hurt. the idea that tonight is going to be consequential enough to knock anybody out of the race, it's very hard to imagine that just to give you an idea about it, newt gingrich is going to

get his secret service protection starting tomorrow night. so he he is going on. rick santorum has already plotted out the states that he is going to be concentrating on in the weeks and days ahead. romney plans to go to kansas on thursday which has a contest on saturday and then mississippi and alabama coming next tuesday. and romney -- excuse me gingrich and santorum will be waiting there for them. gingrich made it clear that the win in georgia was essential to his continuing not just because of the credibility of winning in his own state, but because he needs that slingshot effect for the upcoming states. kansas on saturday. then mississippi and alabama next tuesday. southern states that could really revive gingrich's candidacy, shep. >> shepard: there are very big moments ahead. one of them will be where when we get to call vermont where the polls closed almost 24 minutes ago. the other is ohio which is closing just moments from now. now, carl, you think about what the mitt romney campaign must be thinking right now. vermont right next door to where he has been serving for years and years and years.

certainly there are a lot -- one group of voters you can count on to come out is ron paul voters. they are coming. you can build bring walls with chain links on top and barb wire, they will get there the question has always been are mitt romney's supporters motivated enough to come out in enormous numbers? and maybe vermont is telling us, at least in that place, tonight they are not or he would have already won. >> well, and realistically in new england particularly, one state tends to do something different than one of its neighbors. we haven't seen a lot of people sort of following a bandwagon of states that precede or on the same day, so massachusetts going for mitt romney in a big way. that's just as likely to turn some green mountain staters off and say i would rather give ron paul a second hearing. all of those things are likely to play out. you can't under emphasize how liberal vermont is as compared to massachusetts and like massachusetts in new england. they are by far and away the most liberal states even among

republicans on the east coast and arguably in the country. >> shepard: carl cammeron with us. we will be going to him throughout the night as our coverage continues. moments from now ohio's polls will close. one of the biggest prizes of this super tuesday arguably the most important with more than 60 delegates up for grabs, and the most closely watched contest of the night. recent surveys have shown a very tight race between rick santorum and mitt romney. the polls close in four and a half minutes. and fox news will have live coverage. will there be a decision from the fox news decision desk in four minutes and 24 seconds? we'll know a quick commercial break. this is america's election headquarters. special super tuesday coverage on "the fox report." america's choice for news and information. change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.?

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he he has won virginia and newt gingrich his home state of georgia. carl cammeron live with us tonight. that's it for the ones that have closed thus far. we are three minutes away from the big prize, ohio. >> sorry, shep, yes. indeed, it looks as though the buckeye state will be one of the most decisive and important contests of the entire super tuesday event. there are 66 delegates in play here. and there has long been a structural well-known problem that santorum faces. he is not eligible to win delegates in three of the congressional districts and he was unable to file a complete so-called delegate slate in a handful of others. all tolled, 18 of the 66 delegates are not available for rick santorum to win. that means were santorum to hold on to the lead that he had and pulled off the actual popular vote victory, he still is in jeopardy of not winning the actual delegates themselves, shep. >> shepard: all right, carl, thanks very much. i want to get to ed rollins now. the polls closed in ohio just about two and a half minutes from now and we will go there.

ed rollins a republic strategist, long time friend of the program and smart guy within the republic establishment who really pulls no punches and sets it straight. we were talking during the commercial break just a moment ago about what seems to be most interesting tonight, ed, and you said that the catholics aren't going for the catholics in the exit polling in the state of ohio. >> yeah. and that's an important vote and obviously it's a vote romney counted on. the other thing, you know, i think that the virginia race is about -- is a very conservative state. and i think conservatives just want to do a protest vote. i think paul, certainly i'm not taking anything away from his supporters but the closeness of the race early on was really about the protest vote. other people who weren't on the ballot. the interesting thing there is the voters, the taxpayers for virginia had to spend $3 million to have this race with only two people on the ballot. there was a lot of upset people about that. >> shepard: not the least of which were the campaigns but it's not as if they didn't know the rules in advance.

>> the rules are not changeable. the critical part of this. >> shepard: except in florida where they are. >> organization still matters. and obviously we are seeing some of that tonight. we will see some of that as we get later on in the day where santorum didn't get all the delegates that he needed to be filed. that's where romney has a big advantage that and his money. >> shepard: santorum was leading in ohio for a while. the numbers have changed over the last few days, i guess. >> millions of dollars of television works. we all want to pretend it doesn't. >> shepard: attack ards? >> but t works. at the end of the day as you start to go through exit polls the things that people are talking about one of the things that surprises me is that people say being in business is more important than having government experience. well, that's a brand new thing. obviously that's all part of the romney campaign. when you see your ads coming back, the words in your ads coming back in your polling, then you know you are being successful. >> shepard: we will talk more about what those attack ads will do down the road in just a second. because they are very important going forward.

but, first there is breaking news now as fox reports live tonight. the polls have just closed at 7:30 eastern time in the state of ohio. the voting is over. it is the key state of the night. the biggest contest of the night. and we have some brand new information about voters in the state of ohio. the exit polls now show mitt romney is winning among voters who say beating president obama is the most important thing. but, rick santorum is winning among voters who want a candidate with a strong moral character. we'll get to all of that. no republic has won the white house without winning ohio first in november. not one. analysts say that's why there is so much at stake tonight for both frontrunners. there is an extra challenge for rick santorum because he did not qualify for all of the state's delegates. what does that mean? steve brown is live at rick santorum's super tuesday headquarters steubenville, ohio tonight.

the santorum campaign failed to qualify for as many as 18 ohio delegates. why? >> essentially they they didn't get their paperwork done. the campaign says they were establishment campaign. they didn't have establishment money nor did they have an establishment organization. but the fact of the matter is that they didn't get their paperwork in and essentially in three congressional districts where they are allotted three at large winner take all delegates he they will lose those nine and another six congressional districts there were incomplete slates submitted, one or two. that totals up to 18. republic operative says somebody with the santorum campaign should have known it and kept their eye on the ball. >> you would think that no matter how small the campaign is they would have a calendar of when these deadlines are and they would make their level best effort to get on the ballot in every state. >> unfortunately, it will be a bit of a recurring story for the santorum campaign. north only did they not make the ballot in virginia.

had some problems here in ohio but down the road in two weeks in illinois they will not have congressional slates in four congressional districts for that state's primary on april 3rd in the district of colombia primary. santorum won't be on the ballot at all. shep? >> shepard: steve, as i mentioned the stakes are very high for santorum and romney in the state of ohio. just so our viewers are aware, our decision team is going over the numbers and right now, as expected, ohio is way too close to call. >> right. and mitt romney's presence in the state of ohio, you could probably measure bass by the number of ads that were running something like a 4-million-dollar blitz here in the state. they were at work while the michigan campaign was going on. this has been a two week barrage down here largely in the three cities of cincinnati, columbus and cleveland where you can get ahold of the most republic or likely republic caucus goers. for rick santorum he was in first place here according to the polls three weeks back before he even put his feet on the ground ahead by double digits thanks to triple night

win three weeks back. unable to capitalize on close showing in michigan. although he was tapping into a lot of social conservative networks here, they were essentially doing his grass roots work for him. the romney campaign had been doing the same sort of work with its people and volunteers for weeks and/or months. heavy emphasis on be a sen see ballots in this state much like the state of michigan perhaps the same outcome with a narrow romney victory. we will see when the numbers come, in shep? >> shepard: yes, we shall. steve brown live at headquarters there. polls have been closed for three and a half minutes. nothing to call just yet. we are hopeful it could come shortly. ed rollins, former member of the reagan administration, former michele bachmann and -- fox news contributor. organization, organization, organization. >> the difference is santorum had no organization when these things needed to be done. he was one guy in a car

driving around iowa. he didn't catch. money starting to come. people starting to get on board. romney's campaign has been running nonstop for six years. they knew what they were doing they had a plan and trying to execute it. i'm not taking anything away from santorum but not taking anything away from romney either. >> shepard: if you are a mitt romney supporter or on the mitt romney team is it fair to say a good night for you tonight would be capturing somewhere between 200 and 215 delegates? what do you think? >> obviously winning ohio is the big key. you know, the delegate count is going to go back and forth a little bit here. but, if he wins ohio, basically he walks away with the game. >> shepard: and that's it. >> as far as i'm concerned. i think most people who know the game well know that there is no place else santorum can stop him. >> shepard: there will be pressure on santorum and gingrich but that pressure won't do any good because they are both going forward. >> nobody is going to drop out at this point in time they will argue we have got california and new york and big stas and texas, the truth of the matter if texas

would have been what it was supposed to be, it got altered by the courts. at the end of the day gingrich might have had a big victory in texas with perry as his chairman. >> shepard: ed, stay with us. want to get the latest from state to state, ohio is a huge industrial state. the unemployment rate there 7.9%. slightly under the national average, much higher than some areas in that state. it also has a pretty diversion population. different cities around it and those factors are among the reasons that ohio is a very interesting microcosm of the nation as a whole as it has been for many election cycles. let's get to co-host of the newsroom bill hemmer is with us. take us to the billboard, please. >> shepard, sure will. polls closings, economy and results, results right now so critical. you mentioned ohio has really been the focus throughout this last week here. reporting right now in the state of ohio nothing. no precincts, no counties officially. four years ago in this primary in ohio, john mccain won all 88 counties. he beat huckabee two to one.

interestingly enough, romney only got 3%. that's because four years ago at this time mitt romney was only winding down his campaign and got out right after -- got out of race right after super tuesday. if rick santorum in general is going to have a good day today in ohio. he is going to have to do really well here. run up the score in southern ohio. eastern edge of ohio near home state of pennsylvania. some back in ohio also believe that santorum can do very well here along the western edge toward indiana. mitt romney expects to do well in cuyahoga county. that's cleveland. franklin county, which is columbus. hamilton county which is cincinnati. and interstate 71 connects all three of these major cities in ohio. we will see whether or not the map fills in that way. we do expect these colors to change moment tearily as the information starts to trickle in from various counties here. we will restate the board here and give you a better idea right now about what we are seeing about results in other states. you made a call in vermont,

shepard. you made a call in virginia. down here in the state of virginia, making a call on gingrich. it starts to trickle in now. only 2% of the vote in right now and gingrich's home state. what's coming up next? the poll closings on the board at 8:00. you are about 22 minutes away. three states will clock in then. the home state for romney in massachusetts where we will see him in boston later tonight. also, down here in tennessee. watch the way tennessee goes. three men fighting and vying right now for victory there in tennessee tonight. oklahoma similar story. we will see the results come in there and about 22 and a half minutes. for the movement, back in ohio, nothing to report just yet but that map will change in a matter of moments. on super tuesday, shepard. >> shepard: bill, thank you. a lot that we're watching. if you want to know what we're watching behind the scenes now, obviously watching ohio. ohio is going to tell us a lot. as ed rollins said a couple of minutes ago if mitt romney can win ohio, ed rollins veteran g.o.p. consultant and insider

says this thing is over. it won't end but it's over. and then there is tennessee. can rick santorum get the evangelical vote and enough of it in the state of tennessee to go on and take it? can newt gingrich do the same? and can newt gingrich later go on with mississippi and alabama? it would be huge momentum for him, not enough to win but it would be big. top of the hour three very important states. oklahoma, massachusetts, and tennessee. first, we're waiting to call ohio. and who knows when that will happen. so much attention on super tuesday and the g.o.p. candidates. the president is getting some of his own press today. today he held his first news conference of the year. he talked iran and his republic rivals and our correspondent ed henry went around with him. first as i reported at the top of this newscast fox news projects newt gingrich has easily won his home state of georgia. next polls our exit polls from there show 61% of voters said his ties to that state don't matter much or at all. john roberts with that news. live from the former house

speaker's rally in atlanta. john, newt gingrich said this is a must-win and he won. >> yeah. definitely, shepard. he said this is one that he has to win if he wants to maintain his credibility as a candidate. i have got to tell you at the top of the hour when you announced newt gingrich. big cheer. now that they see us on the monitor another cheer going up from the crowd. newt gingrich hadn't done much better than fourth or third in the few leading up. he also hopes it's going to get him a big slice of the 76 delegates if he can go past the 50% threshold. he gets all 42 of those congressional district delegates here in georgia. that would be really big for him. is he planning on a southern strategy that now includes, arkansas, mississippi, he hopes to get something out of kansas in those states that lie ahead now in the next primary contest. but, for tonight, a big victory for newt gingrich here as he has won georgia and he has won it big, shep. >> shepard: yes, he has. thanks very much, john roberts live in the atlanta, georgia

for us. now, ron paul is speaking. he had quite a show in virginia tonight. he has gotten some pretty good numbers in the state of vermont. his campaign is energized and is he live in fargo. listen. >> in like we spend too much money now and then. and we borrow too much money now and then. government grows and leads by leaps and bounds. one of the things that they have done over these last 100 years has been very detrimental especially last 40 years they want the government to grow endlessly. run out of money, guess what they start doing? they start printing money. [shouting] >> and, of course, that leads to more problems. now the world is facing a debt crisis. and the debt crisis is consequence, a natural consequence. a predictable consequence of the monetary system that we have. we embarked 100 years with a central bank which thomas jefferson tried so much to prevent. they haven't done a very good

job. they took a dollar in 1913 is now worth one penny. so i would say it's time we celebrate next year the 100th anniversary of the federal reserve by repealing the federal reserve act. [cheers and applause] [chanting] >> a lot has happened in the last four years. these problems have been going on for a long time. it would be nice if we could blame one person or one administration but it's been going on for a long time. so many young people here i think you are realizing you are getting a bad wrap for what you are inheriting. you would like a much better deal. the better deal can be found in less government and only sending people to washington who have actually read the constitution will obey the constitution and take their oath of office seriously. [cheers and applause]

which would do so many wonderful things for us. take, for instance, if you are tired of the wars, i hope you are sick and tired of the wars we are involved in. [cheers and applause] >> what if we had the return to the constitution, the founders made sure in the document, in the constitution, that the wars would only occur not by the executive branch but only by the people through their representatives in congress. that's the way all wars should be declared. if necessary, they should be declared one and get them over with and comb home. that's the way it was supposed to be done. [cheers and applause] but since world war ii we have gone to war without a declaration. and for that reason we essentially have not won one of those wars that has added a lot of tragedy. just in these past ten years these wars we are fighting in

the middle east over 8500 americans have died. 44,000 have come back with serious injuries and am amputations and all kinds of problems. hundreds of thousands looking for help because of post-traumatic stress syndrome. at the same time, economically it's been very damaging. it has added $4 trillion to our national debt. that is what you are inheriting. this is the reason why it is so important if you are talking about peace and prosperity you have to change the constitution and have a lot less war and make a lot more sincere effort to promote the cause of peace. [cheers and applause] this has been going on for a long time. both administrations have been doing. this and this is the reason that the message of liberty actually brings people together because individuals see that the parties aren't doing a very good job. you like one party to cut the

spending, they raise the debt and the spending as well. another party is supposed to do the job. they go in and nothing changes. if you look at the candidates today, there is very little difference except for one. [cheers and applause] the rest of the candidates supports the status quo, foreign policy never change, monetary policy doesn't change. there is no challenge to the federal reserve system. most of all, there is no desire to protect personal liberty. personal privacy. protect us from the intrusiveness of the federal government to protect your right to use the internet. these are the kind of things that are so important to so many people and unfortunately that is not offered. i believe it is the offering up of a program that emphasizes personal liberty, the constitution, sound monetary policy and a sensible foreign policy is the reason the momentum is building and the reason why we are getting such a great reception here in

north dakota. [cheers and applause] >> shepard: ron paul speaking live tonight in fargo. had a pretty good night in the state of virginia. it was a two man race there. do you ever wonder -- do you ever listen to ron paul and go what is his game? it's not as if he will be able to win the nomination. the numbers are simply not there, no matter how do you the math if you are a supporter i know that angers you but facts are troublesome from time to time. what is his game? is he there to get a certain message out? is he there to help his son who is very active in politics? ed rollins is with us. veteran g.o.p. strategist. what his game? >> it's a very consistent message. antiwar candidate. he thinks our foreign policy is messed up, the federal reserve. is he a voice in the wilderness. he has a tremendous number of young people. probably the most dedicated supporters anywhere are his supporters. >> shepard: his numbers will never go above 25%? >> never. >> shepard: no matter what he does. >> i don't believe that.

>> shepard: basically because of foreign policy. >> best opportunity was iowa. it has diminished as time has gone on. >> shepard: closeness in virginia was what. >> protest vote. other candidates basically saying go vote for ron paul to stop romney. >> shepard: ed rollins. stay with us. election alert now, these are the races called tonight by fox news channel. first of all, the state of georgia. newt gingrich has won his home state of georgia and by a pretty wide margin. again, he called it a must-win tonight he did win. the state of vermont was next. vermont is a romney win though it was closer than many had anticipated. we weren't able to call this just as the polls closed in the state of vermont at the top of this hour but ron -- i mean, excuse me, ron paul has won there. state of ve ron paul won there as well. in virginia mitt romney and ron paul only there. newt gingrich and rick santorum did not get enough signatures on the ballot. ohio's polls are closed as

well. in the state -- these are live numbers as they are coming. in as you can see. less than only 1% of all precincts are reporting and the numbers are tiny by ohio standards at least for the time being. just as close as we had expected for the moment mitt romney is leading 39% to 37%. it's our guess that that number will go back and forth. i don't know, much like a knicks boston game. the numbers will change and then the last two minutes of the game we will figure who wins the thick. we are waiting just 12 and a half minutes from now. three very significant states with the polls closing, the state ofs oklahoma, massachusetts and tennessee. tennessee may tell us some things all the way from memphis across through nashville, chattanooga, knoxville and beyond. what happens in tennessee could tell us a lot about the conservative vote tonight and going forward. first, president obama held his first very first news conference of the year on super tuesday. coincidental, his aides insist. the president discussed topics including mortgage relief. but and the nuclear standoff with iran.

and that quickly took center stage. he reiterated his position that there is still time to resolve the situation diplomatically. but he also took a swipe at republic candidates for as he put it beating the drums of war. >> those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. they are not commander and chief. and when i see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, i'm reminded of the costs involved in war. >> shepard: of course, this comes just one day after the president met with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. let's get team fox coverage in now with jonathan hunt on the candidate's policy positions. the president hitting the republic candidate over loose talk about war. >> that's right, shep. i mean, the bottom line is the president underscored again and again that he still thinks that diplomacy can work. he thinks there is a window of opportunity now because he thinks the sanctions are crippling iran.

he thinks everyone should calm down this talk, that it's spooking the oil markets, raising the price of oil. it's concerning the american people. concerning people around the world. all of this loose talk. and he basically hit republics because he said as he noted that as commander and chief he has to deal with the cost of war but the republic candidates can throw out all this bluster and not back it up. take a listen. >> when i see some of these folks who have a lot of bluster, and a lot of big talk, but when you actually ask them specifically what they would do, it turns out they repeat the things that we have been doing over the last three years. it indicates to me that that's more about politics than actually trying to solve a difficult problem. >> now, the president never listed the names of those republicans but when he was pressed about whether or not he has anything to say to mitt romney on this super tuesday he said basically i wish him good luck tonight. and later in the day mitt romney said that he thinks that sounds like an

endorsement. but i doubt it was, shep. >> shepard: i doubt it ed henry, one more thing, first though polls closing in three states in exactly ten minutes. our decision team is on it for the states of oklahoma, massachusetts and tennessee. it's possible that we have a call with one of those exactly at the top of the hour. possible. it's also possible we might get something from ohio in just a moment. first, ed, the one thing we know about the relationship between our president, president obama and the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is that they could be saying entirely different things behind the scenes that this could be all for show and for consumption in iran. that said, it sounds as if the israeli prime minister believes time is running out. >> that's right. the president's message was the opposite at this news conference. he kept saying there is a window of opportunity. the sanctions are working. give this a chance. the prime minister last night at aipac, he spoke at that american israeli public affairs committee meeting. and he had a much different tone. he was using words like

holocaust, saying that we need to prevent another holocaust. comparing iran's nuclear program to the concentration camps from the world war ii era. he was basically saying time is running out and mocked any assertion that people have that maybe iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. take a listen. >> you see, when that iranian icbm is flying through the air to a location near you, you have got nothing to worry about. it's only carrying medical isotopes. >> so the bottom line is that even after all of these talks here at the white house, it appears that the israeli prime minister is still mulling a potential unilateral strike against iran, shep. >> shepard: sounds like he is. ed henry live for us at the white house. ed, thanks. 8 minutes, 15 seconds until the next polls close. we have them for you straight up at the top of the hour. just hours before the president spoke today, the republic white house contenders were blasting the president's position on iran.

it was the latest in a series of g.o.p. attacks on the president's foreign policy. team fox coverage continues now with the chief fox report correspondent jonathan hunt who is live with us in the studio tonight. hello, jonathan. >> hey, shep. elections may generally turn on the economy. with foreign policy challenges piling up in afghanistan and iran and syria. fox news senior political analyst brit hume says republicans feel a real opportunity to take on the president. >> they believe that although he got bin laden, and al awlaki that broadly speaking on iran and nuclear weapons in particular that he has been weak and they think he has been reticent in his support of israel although, you know, the president is obviously working to remedy that, so i think these republicans see an opening there. >> and the opening they are focusing on is what they claim is a lack of leadership from president obama. >> hope is not a foreign policy. the only thing respected by thugs and tyrants is our resolve. backed by our power and our

readiness to use it. [gunfire] >> republicans have also been critical of the president's decision to apologize for the burning by u.s. troops of copies of the koran that had been defaced by afghan detainees. it was an attempt to put a lid on the riots that followed, according to the white house. it was another example of the president being too quick to say sorry according to newt gingrich. >> when a president of the united states as commander and chief apologizes to religious fanatics while they are killing young americans, this is profoundly wrong. >> ron paul has argued for a far less interventionist foreign policy. >> we should not be and cannot be the policemen of the world. all the other candidates believe the u.s. has to be more aggressive in defending its interest. in particular stopping iran from getting a nuclear weapon. >> when i say to the

government of iran, that iran will not get a nuclear weapon, go to the bank. iran will not get a nuclear weapon. >> most analysts agree foreign policy is unlikely to be a major issue in the presidential election but as brit hume points out, that could change very quickly. >> that's the thing about events and campaigns, we always think that campaigns and candidates have r. very important. usually it's events that matter most. >> one thing that democrats and republicans agree on is that if iran gets close to really building a nuclear weapon, and if israel or the u.s. launching military strikes to prevent that happening the presidential campaign and for that matter the world will change in an instant. shep? >> shepard: ed rollins, how much of this is politics? >> a lot is politics. at the end of the day the republics see this as a weak president. he has ran as antiwar and he has been in wars. that's a place they feel like they could challenge him.

>> shepard: long term come november is this an issue that can work for republicans. >> it can work. at the end of the day we don't know what israelis are going to do. israelis are worried about if obama gets reelected what will he do in a second term? >> shepard: ed, stay with us, hope you will as well. big stuff ahead. we are waiting to call the state of ohio where the polls closed 25 minutes ago. it's still too close to call. moments from now the polls close in oklahoma. massachusetts and tennessee. and oh the stories those will tell. we are just getting started, a quick break, and come back. because with get-it-done savings on everything we need... ...we can turn this weekend into a fresh floor... ...or an updated bathroom... ...or a brand-new look. so let's hit those orange aisles, and make today the day, we make a big difference - no matter how big our budget. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. lay down a better floor for less. new pergo xp laminate, starts at $2.74 per square foot.

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>> shepard: continuing coverage of super tuesday from fox news channel. now what we have done and what's to come. first of all, in the state of virginia, fox news has projected tonight mitt romney has won the state of virginia. only mitt romney and ron paul were available in that state tonight. we can also project in the state of vermont that mitt romney has won his neighboring state. the margin of victory not as wide as earlier expected. none the less mitt romney has won there. in the state of georgia, which newt gingrich called a must-win, it was a win tonight for the former house speaker and georgia native. here's what's coming up just seconds from now. the polls are about to close in the states of oklahoma, massachusetts, and tennessee. they have been closed now for just about 28 minutes in the state of ohio and still no decision from the fox news decision team but it's coming and now you know the news. election coverage continues now. megyn kelly and bret baier

take it away. captions by closed captioning services >> brit: it's the biggest night so far. super tuesday. we are just seconds away from polls closing in three more states. welcome to america's election headquarters i'm bret baier. >> i'm megyn kelly. tonight's results could go a long way to deciding the republic republic nomination. polls are closed in georgia, vermont, virginia and ohio. here is what we know so far. the state of ohio too close to call right now. mitt romney and rick santorum neck and neck for the lead there. >> bret: fox news can project wide margin leaving mitt romney and rick santorum second place. fox news projects newt gingrich will win the primary in georgia. >> fox news projecting that mitt romney has won the state of vermont. those are the standings as we know them. five seconds now to thene